¿Que Paso? — Bishop Higi Responds

Finally, a statement from the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana regarding Summorum Pontificum!

And it does not dissapoint...in fact, it is just as bad as could be expected. Read on...Crucis' comments in bold.

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Pope Benedict XVI's relaxation of restrictions on the use of the Latin Mass leaves unanswered questions regarding the actual practice, says Bishop William L. Higi.

The pope's directive was issued July 7 to bishops worldwide.

When interviewed by The Catholic Moment, Bishop Higi said he understands the Holy Father's desire to retain the Tridentine Mass as an extraordinary part of Catholic liturgy, and is fully supportive, but he questions whether it will be possible to provide it in the Local Church.

["And in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church"...taken from the Nicene Creed, the basic statement of Christian belief used in the Catholic church...catholic comes from "catholicos" = Greek for "universal", not sure where the "local" part comes in]

By letter, Bishop Higi asked priests across the diocese to wait to see how procedural details are addressed by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

["For such celebrations, with either one Missal or the other, the priest has no need for permission from the Apostolic See or from his Ordinary." — and certainly not the USCCB — but if the author of this article was semi-sentient, the would know a document from the USCCB does exist and came out the same day as the motu proprio]

The pope noted that use of the 1962 Missal "presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language; neither of these is found very often."

Bishop Higi, who was ordained in 1959, agreed.

"Even though I celebrated the Tridentine Mass for several years I would no longer be able to do so using the Roman Missal of 1962 (the required text) without significant study of the rubrics and a refresher course in Latin," he said. "I suspect that is true of most if not all priests of the diocese.

[A reasonable assesment of the situation on the ground in the diocese]

"In this Local Church, pastoral sensitivity suggests an indepth study of Spanish rather than Latin," he said.

[But won't that require a "significant study" of...Spanish? Crucis suspects this is true of "most if not all priests" of the diocese.]

The pope's directive states that a priest must be qualified to celebrate Latin masses before he can celebrate one. But it sheds no light on who decides those qualifications.

The 1962 Missal also requires the use of altar boys – not girls – and they must be capable of responding to the celebrant in Latin. Choirs also probably would have to be trained in Gregorian chant, Bishop Higi said. The 1962 calendar would be followed, because no mixture of the 1962 missal and the current missal will be allowed. Only one form of Communion would be available.

[I assume the Diocesan Liturgical Committee could manage that.]

Pope Benedict XVI said that any priest, without further permission, could celebrate the Latin Mass without the people at almost any time, and that laypeople could be admitted if they spontaneously requested to do so. It remains unclear whether such a Mass could be scheduled.

[No, the document said, "on any day with the exception of the Easter Triduum". So if we do the math, 365 - 3 = 362 days of the year or 99.17% of the time. OK, so I'm nitpicking, but 99.17% of the time seems a little more than "almost any time", doesn't it?]

The pope's directive states that where any group of parishioners attached to the Latin Mass "exists stably" it may request a pastor to offer one. Apparently, when only one Sunday Mass is offered, Latin may not be used.

[Maybe when they are done with Spanish class, the author of this document could take an English grammar course. The motu proprio reads, "In parishes, where there is a 'stable group of faithful' who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their requests to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962, and ensure that the welfare of these faithful harmonises with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church." — so I'm not sure where the quotes around "exists stably" come from?]

No definition of "group" or "exists stably" was offered.

[Try Merriam-Webster's online...it suggests a group is, among other less human-oriented definitions, "a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship". As far as their concocted "exists stably" is concerned, I don't know what the hell that means either!]